


forget all the shooting stars

by spaceluke



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: ADHD Paul, Future Fic, M/M, soft boys in love, space boos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-06
Updated: 2017-11-06
Packaged: 2019-01-30 05:07:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12646719
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spaceluke/pseuds/spaceluke
Summary: figuring out your future is an ordeal, especially when you've spent most of your relationship handling crisis after crisis after crisis. hugh's ready for some peace and quiet, and for once, paul is keeping perfect stride.





	forget all the shooting stars

**Author's Note:**

> the events of tonight's episode and the preview for ep 9 have got me Real Stressed about my space dads. here is the softness and happiness they (and we!) deserved  
> this is set in an indefinitely-timed future in which the discovery is being decommissioned and lorca turned out to be unfit to serve because... well. i have some thoughts.  
> title is from troye sivan's _for him. (ft. allday)_ , and while the song has no real relevance to the fic, the line fits nicely and it's just a good song! :)

“Are you entirely sure you don’t want to find a position on another science vessel?” Hugh asked when they were in bed after a long day of preparations for their arrival on Earth. Paul propped himself up on one elbow and narrowed his eyes.  


“After the shitshow that we ended up with here? Having to take orders about what I do with my mushrooms? Dealing with another Lorca? No thanks,” he said. “Besides, I know you miss Earth.”  


Paul leaned up to kiss Hugh’s cheek. Hugh smiled and ran a hand over Paul’s back, basking in the closeness. “You know Lorca was a… special case. An anomaly. But I don’t want your decision to be about me,” he said.  


“You know it’s not, that I wouldn’t,” Paul said. “My sisters are surprised I even included you as a factor in my plans.”  


Hugh smiled. When he and Paul had first met, Paul had been so singlemindedly ambitious that he’d claimed not to have time for a relationship. Hugh had managed to prove him wrong, and while their relationship had started bumpy and never really smoothed out, Hugh wouldn’t have traded it for the entire sector—and he knew Paul wouldn’t have traded it for all his mushrooms. The first few months aboard the Discovery had been the hardest, first with the destruction of the Glenn and the integration of Michael Burnham into their lives. After that it had worsened, with Paul’s mental decline and the increasing intensity of the war effort, all of it wreaking havoc on the calm they had so carefully created.  


But their shifts had worked out so they got to sleep side by side most nights, and with some help, they’d managed to help Paul and still keep the spore drive running. Now Paul was ready to take a teaching position at the University of Puerto Rico, maybe be an adjunct at Starfleet Academy. Hugh hadn’t lived in Puerto Rico since he was fifteen, and while he missed his family and the culture he’d grown up in, he hadn’t had any plans to move back. He’d assumed that Paul would want to continue working for Starfleet, either on a colony or a starship, and Hugh had been willing to follow him—after all, he could practice medicine anywhere.  
But here they were, spending their last night on the Discovery.  


“I just want you to be doing what you want,” Hugh said into Paul’s hair. “I want you to be happy.”  


“I’m happiest when I’m with you,” Paul said. “I thought you’d have figured that out by now.”  


Hugh smiled. Paul wriggled his way upright and leaned his head on Hugh’s shoulder, sighing happily as Hugh carded his fingers through Paul’s hair.  


“You’re the genius here,” Hugh said. “And I can’t exactly read your mind.”  


Paul rolled his eyes. “I’m not a genius,” he said. “I just care very deeply about my mushrooms. But that’s not the point. My point is that I’m ready to stop chasing impossibilities and live my life in relative peace, and I want to do that with you.”  


“And you want to do that on Earth? In Puerto Rico? You’re sure?”  


Paul sat all the way up. “Hugh Culber, love of my life. Mi corazon. I want to settle down and do what I love, on Earth, with you. I know how much you love Puerto Rico. My first choice might have been mainland South America, because there really are some _beautiful_ mycological specimens in the deep Amazon, but it really doesn’t matter where I am. Having you by my side will make anywhere my home.”  


“No one else gets to see how much of a sap you are, huh,” Hugh said. Paul smirked and Hugh kissed him long and slow. Paul tipped his head so that their foreheads rested together, and Hugh’s hand cradled Paul’s head. Paul leaned into the touch, sighed, kissed Hugh again.  


“No one else has been worth showing it to,” Paul said. “Which proves your point nicely, doesn’t it?”  


Hugh chuckled. “I’m not complaining. I’m honored that I’m worth it.”  


Paul hummed, and they were both silent for a long time; long enough that Hugh was considering picking up his PADD and returning to the novel he was reading when Paul spoke again.  


“How soon do you think we’ll be able to get to Puerto Rico to actually buy a house?”  


“I haven’t been able to think about it yet,” Hugh said. “I’m amazed you’ve been able to; you’ve had more to do than I have.”  


“The ADHD brain is a wondrous thing,” Paul said, and Hugh rolled his eyes. Paul prodded him. “Think about it now. We’re going to have probably at least two weeks, mandatory, in San Francisco, for physicals and debriefing and unloading and updating psych evals, won’t that be a joy, and monitored readjustment to being on-planet, and then I’ll be transporting back and forth to San Juan to get paperwork in place and start feeling out the university—”  


“Paul,” Hugh said. “Paul, honey, use punctuation.”  


Now Paul was the one to roll his eyes. “It’s late, I have a good excuse,” he said. “And you know I’m right. It’s probably going to be weeks before we’ll have time to find a place to live. What’s our plan?”  


“Well, what are our options?” Hugh asked. “I’m sure there’s university housing, and real estate in San Juan is a good market anyway, for renting or buying. Depending on our residual Starfleet duties we may even be in Starfleet housing. And, worst case scenario, my parents have the house in Loíza.”  


Paul shot Hugh a scathing look. “What season is it in the northern hemisphere right now?”  


“Early summer,” Hugh said carefully. “And I know it would be hard on everyone, but—”  


“They’re in Loíza already, Hugh,” Paul said. He was clearly doing his best to sound bashful, or at least apologetic, but to Hugh’s ears he still sounded acerbic, abrasive. “For the next four months. It would be different if it were September and they were on their way out. I can’t live in the same house as your parents for that long. I can’t stand your mother’s… enthusiasm.”  


Hugh sighed and pressed his lips together tightly. “I love you very much,” he said, “and you are possibly the greatest challenge I have ever faced.”  


“I love you too,” Paul said, his voice softer. He smiled. “But really, the greatest challenge you’ve ever had to face was the haggis at my grandmother’s 110th birthday party.”  


“Why is white people food _so awful_ ,” Hugh moaned, and Paul laughed, quiet but clear. Hugh continued, “like I said, though, it’s a worst case scenario. I don’t want to move back in with my parents either.”  


“I’m not surprised,” Paul said. “You and your mother would just be bitching back and forth the entire time. So, obviously a bad option. But what are the good ones?”  


“Am I going to have to medicate you just so you can sleep tonight?” Hugh asked, returning to petting Paul’s hair. “You’re hyperfocusing on something that can, and probably should, be figured out in the morning.”  


“I know,” Paul sighed. “I just like being sure.”  


“You? Enjoying certainty? I’m shocked,” Hugh said. Paul elbowed him in the ribs, and both of them chuckled. “I’m worrying too, but neither of us can do anything about it right now. Computer, how long until we arrive?”  


The computer dinged and told them, _estimated time until arrival is eight hours and forty seven minutes._  


“You should sleep,” Hugh said. “We should both sleep, but you need more of it than I do. Do you want your meds tonight?”  


Hugh was fully prepared to get up and bring Paul his little case of stimulants, but Paul just leaned up and kissed Hugh again, long and slow.  


“No,” Paul broke away and started worming his way back down in the bed, “just. Put your book away for the night. Come down here.”  


Hugh smiled fondly and adjusted so that he was lying next to his partner, the two of them curled into each other, a closed set of parentheses, mere inches between them. He brushed Paul’s hair back from his face, leaned forwards to press his lips to Paul’s forehead.  


“Computer, lights,” Paul murmured, his eyes already closed as the lights dimmed and then went off entirely. Hugh breathed deep and slow as Paul tugged Hugh’s hand up to rest on Paul’s chest. Hugh could feel Paul’s steady heartbeat, could feel the expansion of Paul’s ribs as he inhaled, little puffs of air as he exhaled.  


Hugh couldn’t say with any certainty what the future held for himself and Paul. He knew they both wanted a family, but were unsure of how they wanted to start one. They were moving to Puerto Rico, where Hugh would be happiest and Paul would constantly complain of heat exhaustion and sunburns, where Paul would get to intimidate and inspire young minds and Hugh would happily rise through the ranks at the University hospital, where Michael and Tilly and Ash could come visit whenever they wished. Things would calm down, or would at least as much as they ever could when Paul was involved.  


Hugh knew that in the morning they would be tossed back into their real lives, and a stressful new part of their real lives at that, but this? Now? This was peaceful, and soft, and just for the two of them.

**Author's Note:**

> hmu on [tumblr](http://www.politicsandmagic.tumblr.com) where i scream about my space dads (and would love to talk about my headcanons about them!)


End file.
